Maryland's bats catch fire as Terrapins take series opener with Ole Miss

Feb. 24—OXFORD — Maryland ace Jason Savacool stifled No. 4 Ole Miss in his seven innings of work Friday night, striking out nine with no walks while allowing just five baserunners as the No. 13 Terrapins took the opener of a three-game series 9-2 at Swayze Field.

Maryland designated hitter Ian Petrutz hit a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning, breaking open what was a two-run Terrapins lead.

"(Savacool) really attacked the zone early and often," junior catcher Calvin Harris said. "And, for us, we didn't work a walk tonight, which just kind of showed you, he stayed in the zone, was able to use multiple pitches in the zone. (There's) a lot of movement."

Junior Jack Dougherty got the start for Ole Miss, as sophomore Hunter Elliott is out this weekend after experiencing forearm tightness following last week's start. The Terrapins loaded the bases in the second with no outs and scored two runs off Dougherty on a sacrifice fly and a grounder that nearly resulted in an inning-ending double play.

Dougherty remained composed, however, and largely cruised until giving up another run in the fifth. He gave up three earned runs and finished with three strikeouts and two walks over four innings.

Elliott is scheduled to see an out-of-town doctor next week, head coach Mike Bianco said, and is hoping to know more after the visit. Elliott has not thrown since Monday.

"I think Jack would admit, very average stuff tonight. He just got himself in trouble," Bianco said. " ... He went like 2-0 three hitters in a row, I think, and just put himself in some bad counts and some bad positions there.

" ... I thought he kind of settled down a little bit and gave us a shot. We were hoping to maybe get through the fifth, or at least get a couple outs ... He competed, which was the reason in Hunter's absence that we went with him on Friday, that we knew he'd give us a great effort."

Freshman Jordan Vera entered the game with two runners on in the seventh and walked the first batter he faced. Down 0-1 in the count, Petrutz proceeded to hit a towering fly ball into the Rebels' bullpen. Maryland scored five runs in the seventh and another in the eighth.

The Rebels got one run back in the bottom of the second inning and scored their second run on a wild throw in the seventh. Savacool was in control the rest of the game, keeping Ole Miss' normally prolific lineup off-balance. He held the Rebels to five hits and surrendered one earned run.

Senior first baseman Anthony Calarco is quite familiar with Savacool — he faced him twice when he was slugging at Northwestern in his Big Ten days. And while he had two hits Friday night, Calarco is aware just how tough Maryland's righty can be.

Harris and Calarco combined for four of Ole Miss' six hits in the game.

"He's just a really good sinker guy," Calarco said. " ... It's just kind of a late movement. It's kind of hard to see from when you're warming up, and that's kind of one of the reasons why I think he has so much success. You don't really see it until you get up there, and you take a swing and you're like, 'Whoa, I was just way on top of that.'"

Game Two between the Rebels and Terrapins is set to start at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

MICHAEL KATZ is the Ole Miss athletics reporter for the Daily Journal. Contact him at michael.katz@djournal.com.